Warning: Spoilers for Punisher (2022) #12 ahead!
While the Avengers have tried and failed to hold the Punisher accountable for his deeds, it is his wife, Maria Castle, who destroys Frank Castle’s Punisher persona with a single, brutally short speech. It’s a powerful moment and a defining coda for the current ongoing series of the character, as Maria seems to put an end to the Punisher at last.
Punisher (2022) #12 concludes Jason Aaron, Jesús Saiz, Paul Azaceta, and Matt Hollingsworth’s epic story. Frank Castle has cast aside the High Priestess of the Beast and sits in the custody of the Avengers as they try to decide what to do with him. One by one, soldiers such as Wolverine and Black Widow speak with the Punisher, probing for any sign of regret, remorse, or willingness to atone for his deeds as the Hand’s leader, but Frank stonewalls each of them in turn. It is only after that he is visited by his wife Maria, who coldly spurns his entire crusade as the Punisher, that Frank invokes the Beast one last time to vanish from the world.
Maria Castle Destroys The Punisher After The Avengers’ Failure
Maria’s presence has been crucial to this entire storyline. Resurrected by the Hand’s dark magic, critical parts of Frank’s history are explored from her perspective, revealing a woman who is both deeply in love with and deeply troubled by both sides of Frank Castle (the husband and the violent soldier). The portrait of Maria that we see is starkly different from the saintly, innocent woman gunned down in a park; both in the past and the present, she is shown to be capable of embracing Frank’s capability for disturbing levels of violence. It is Frank’s inability to open up to her and share himself with her that dooms their connection.
The death of Maria and their children has been Frank Castle’s drive for his entire tenure as the Punisher, seeking to avenge himself on the injustices of a cruel world that indiscriminately takes away the good in life. Maria’s speech in this issue stands as a stark and direct repudiation of everything the Punisher has taken her death to stand for. “I’m here to remind you of the truth,” Maria tells him. “You’d already lost (your family) before those shots were ever fired.” With this simple indictment, Maria robs Frank of the entire war that he clung to for meaning in his life, and all the wars that he embraced at the cost of forsaking his family.
The Punisher’s Wife Has Destroyed Him Forever
The Punisher cannot exist when his very reason for being (Maria) rebukes the actions he has taken in her name. An epilogue shows that Frank Castle still exists in the Marvel Universe, flung to the scattered distances of Weirdworld, but is no longer calling himself ‘The Punisher,’ and – critically – is no longer a part of any war. The Avengers may have successfully stopped Frank Castle but they were unable to truly break him or make him regret his actions; ultimately, it is Maria Castle who finally broke the Punisher.
Punisher (2022) #12 is now available from Marvel Comics.